Siemens Gamesa is progressing with the hybrid energy project located in the Oriental Mindoro province, Philippines, that combines an existing 16MW wind power facility and a battery storage solution with an in-house central control system managing the energy produced at the plant.

The supply and commissioning of the project is being carried out by Siemens Gamesa, with construction by a subsidiary of Berkeley Energy.

The plant is expected to be in full operation in the second half of 2020, following the recent signing of a supply and five-year maintenance contract including the Siemens Gamesa Hybrid Plant Controller (HPC) system.

The HPC system manages the power generated and stored at the plant and can fine tune the wind turbines to optimize the entire plant’s performance such as wind forecasts and other factors.

“The plant is a great example of Siemens Gamesa’s capabilities to offer energy solutions to areas with difficult access to an electricity grid. This plant will help the region to cut its diesel use and emissions, while using storage facilities to assure that people have access to clean energy when they need it. Hybrid solutions such as these, reduce the intermittency of renewable energy, and as such provide huge growth potential.”

Warren Wilson, sales & marketing managing director – Onshore Siemens Gamesa.

At present, the 16MW wind power facility has been fully installed, using 8 Siemens Gamesa 2MW turbines, and the 6MW Gamesa Electric lithium battery storage system will be set up and commissioned in 2020.

Currently an additional wind farm facility is also being negotiated, which would increase wind capacity by 10MW pending the issuance of appropriate approvals from the Department of Energy (DoE) and other government agencies.